I also wanted to upload some of the photos I took while in France. I had a lot of film that I had collected and so I tried to use up as much as I can while abroad. I'll be honest and say I still haven't mastered the art of taking wide lens Polaroid photos, so some of them aren't framed very well! If I can recall anything about the photo I'll be sure to write it below :)

Thanks for reading and I'll see you very soon <3

Maria, Joo and Guillaume all hanging out as the party rages on in the background.

The details of my trip to France continue! The second part of my trip revolved largely around meeting up with my online friends. I met a majority of them almost 2 years on a Japanese language learning Discord server. We all connected because we all had an interest in learning Japanese at the time, and as we became closer and closer we frequently talked about someday meeting up in real life.

The people on the server come from all over the world, so choosing a location we could all 'meet in the middle' at was something we discussed often. My original plan was that I was going to France to see Amanda for a few days, and then meet with my friends Berry and Woufh in Amiens. As this plan was set into motion, more and more people from the server voiced that they were interested in coming, and soon a meetup of 3 turned into a meetup of 10!

After being in Paris for a few days, I have to be honest with you: I was tired of it. While Paris is a beautiful city, I wasn't really feeling the 'french fantasy' I had envisioned. Paris very much felt like an 'old NYC', so my next stop in Amiens was very much welcomed.

Berry and I met up at Gare Du Nord, which is where the train departed from, totally by accident! I was standing by the restrooms as Amanda went inside and saw someone familiar walk out of the men's room. I immediately called out without thinking: "Berry!" and when he turned to face me, he was equally as surprised!

He brought me over to formally 'meet' everyone in person, and it was such a strange feeling to come face to face with people you 'know' but have never met. Online friendships are so special, as soon as I put a face to the name, the connection was instant.

The train ride to Amiens from Gare Du Nord was really lovely. Seeing the cityscape of Paris fade away and turn into seemingly endless fields of grass and tiny french houses was like a dream for me. I immediately knew I was going to fall in love with Amiens, and I can confirm I totally did.

Being able to experience Amiens with a bunch of friends that have also never been there really elevated everything. It's in this city where I begin to finally start having good food in France. As you know from my previous post, I didn't eat any 'French food' for the first few days I was in France and even the food that I did have wasn't the best. Hilariously, the first night out we all went to get sushi together, which we joked was a very French first meal. It was yummy, and it allowed us to take our first and only group photo with everyone in it!

We also had an amazing meal prepared by Maria, Joo and Lexy. They made kimchi jigae for everyone and it was amazing! I have a vivid memory of laughing and singing kpop songs while sitting on the couch beside Guillaume. I'm pretty sure Lexy said 'This is amazing' over 500 times, but I wasn't counting (and she wasn't wrong!).

When I slept that night, I'm sure I was smiling.

For our last day together, we got crepes! If I had a euro for every crepe I ate while in France, I'd be a very rich woman, that's all I'll say. This day was a little sad because it had the general feeling of 'Goodbye' in the air, but Berry cheered everyone up by bringing over homemade tiramisu that morning. It was AMAZING, and I'm not a tiramisu person. 

I don't have a photo of it, but I picked up a sweet and round honey snack at a local shop. I'm not sure exactly what it was called, but it was as if a funnel cake was made out of pure honey. It was super sweet and good, I have a fond memory of it sticking to my hands as we walked in the direction of the train station. 

I knew saying goodbye was going to be hard, but I didn't expect that we would get as lost as we did! When trying to find the entrance to the train station, we discovered both the top and bottom entrance were locked off. We had to go through a side entrance all the way down the street and then found yet another locked door. Climbing up the side stairs, I glanced at my watch and saw how close we were to missing this train: we had 3 minutes to get to the platform and board. At this point, Berry whizzed past me and said 'You should run.'

Though I managed to give a very brief hug goodbye to Lexy, Riri, and Berry, it was a sad way to part as none of us had enough time to say what we really wanted to. Still I'm confident we will all meet again really soon, and I 'see' them every time I open up my computer. 

I've come back from my adventures abroad bringing lots of photographs & memories to share with you!

And thus, this photo was born:

Last night I had the pleasure of attending Winona Oak's first concert in Brooklyn, New York. The name of the venue is 'Baby's All Right' which is a small bar a short walk away from the Marcy Avenue station. I'm unclear about whether or not this was her first concert ever, but I know for a fact this was the first time she's ever taken the stage in NYC!

Opening for Winona was the group Raffaella, who's bass player's mom I got to know while waiting on the line for Winona. I have a habit of finding interesting people on lines, and last night was no different. The soundcheck took longer than expected; doors were supposed to open at 6:30 but we didn't get in until around 7:15. 

I had never heard of Raffaella before yesterday night but the lead singer's stage presence had me totally enamored. Within the first five minutes of their set, her shoes and socks were off, and she was walking around the stage on her tiptoes. I loved how she was so comfortable moving to her own music, she really impressed me!

My favorite track from her was one that she had never performed live before, an unreleased single called 'Bardot'. I cannot wait until this comes out on Spotify, because I vibed with it so much! I listened to a few tracks from the concert last night on Youtube, but I have to say that Raffaella is the kind of artist that sounds better live. Her vocals were amazing and the sheer loudness of it really made her music captivating. 

Winona came on at around 8:15, and so I was expecting her set to last until about 9:15 or so. To my surprise, she ended around 8:52 and quickly left the stage. I have to say that I think she was a bit nervous, and the venue itself was quite small and intimate so it can feel super up close. Despite all this, her vocals were steady and I think she really enjoyed herself. 

It was so hot in the venue, I have no idea how she kept that jacket on all night!

This is the second concert in my solo concert series, and while I have no current plans for the next concert, I'm really enjoying going out and adventuring on my own. Heading from my job all the way down to Brooklyn for a show was a VERY new thing for me but in the end, I had a great time!